


Bloody Hands

by Sinikka_von_Wolperting



Series: Whumptober 2018 [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Luna can be so badass, Possession, Stress, Whump, Whumptober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 19:43:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16165679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinikka_von_Wolperting/pseuds/Sinikka_von_Wolperting
Summary: Stressful factors piling up are never a good thing to have and things might go out of hand. Another side of you could take over.





	Bloody Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This was so nice to write, I love where it went because that wasn't exactly how I planned out at first.  
> As always, have fun reading, I hope you like it!
> 
> Thanks so much to markofthemoros again for the awesome beta-work!

Dark.

‘Ignis? Gladio?’

Cold. Cold, and hard ground.

‘Is this a joke, Prompto?’

Droplets of rain on his face jarred him awake, out of this weird half-conscious state.

“What the...where am I?” Noctis mumbled to himself. He was lying on his back, above him the sky with dark grey clouds. The raindrops falling down on him became more and he finally decided to sit up, only to give out a startled yelp and scoot backwards a few yards.

Three men were lying there. Motionless. Bloodied. 

Overcoming the initial shock, Noctis slowly got to his feet, only to gasp another time when he looked down on himself. Blood. Blood everywhere; his hands and lower arms were completely red.

Raindrops slowly washed away spots in the red, showing his skin underneath while he stared at his hands. After another glance over to the bodies, he frantically padded himself down in search of any injuries - nothing. 

He was completely fine.

This wasn’t his blood.

“Shit,” he breathed out. “Shit, I have to…” Without thinking he started running. Away from the corpses, away from the back alley they were lying. Where were the others? Where was he anyway and how did he get there?

Naked feet padded over the asphalt and he almost collided with an older guy when he shot out of the alley. Struggling to stay on his feet, Noctis muttered an apology in the man’s direction before speeding off, not looking up once. He didn’t hear the man call after him, who now had a red handprint on his jacket.

After another minute of aimless running, he was stopped by a canal. Right, Altissia with all its water everywhere. Swallowing another curse, he knelt down and sunk his hands into the cold water. Right away, a cloud of red appeared and for a few seconds he only stared at it. Someone else’s blood. Even after rubbing over it, it didn’t fully go away; his skin still had a slight reddish hue.

With an annoyed huff, he shoved his arms back into the water, this time up to his elbows, frantically rubbing at his skin.

“Come on, come off,” he muttered. “Where is the Leville, anyway? I’ve never been here before, why is this city so confusing? Shit. What’s happening?”

“Noct?”

The prince almost fell into the canal. Just in time, Prompto grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back.

“Dude, where were you? We’re all worried sick,” the blond demanded after Noctis turned around to give him a confused look.

“I, ah...I don’t know?” Noctis stammered. Should he tell him what he saw in that alley? “I don’t remember leaving the hotel at all.”

Prompto wasn’t sure how to react to this. His friend looked so confused and seemed shook. Not to mention the splatters of blood on his face and clothes. “Did someone attack you? I don’t have potions on me, can you walk?” he asked and after receiving short nod, he offered him a hand to help him get up and then more or less pulled him along to get out of the rain. “You got up in the middle of the night and said you needed some air, you really don’t remember that?”

“No. No, I...remember going to bed. The next thing I know is waking up in some random back alley and with-” he stopped himself from talking further. Something inside him fought against telling Prompto what happened.

“With what?”

“Uhm...I’ll tell everything when the others are there too.”

“Fair enough,” the gunslinger said with a shrug before walking on as if nothing happened, but Noctis could feel the sideway glances he gave him. It made him feel even worse. But the blond had to wait. It would sound weird enough telling this once to everyone, he didn’t want to relay it to each of his friends individually.

It turned out that the Leville wasn’t even that far, Noctis had just been walking in the opposite direction. Ignis and Gladio were already waiting in the lobby and their nervous looks only intensified when they laid eyes on him.

“What happened? An attack?” Ignis was right beside him in an instant, looking for visible wounds on Noctis until he was pushed away.

“I’m alright, specs, can we...can we go to our room? I’m cold.”

“Give him some air, Ignis,” Gladio chimed in. “I’m worried too but look at him, he looks like a ghost.”

“I also feel like one, can we go now,  _ please _ ,” Noctis growled and eventually pushed past them and walked towards the stairs. Almost at their room, he let Ignis pass him to unlock the door and let them all in. He felt really cold now; running around outside in the rain barefoot started to get to him and he desperately wished for a hot shower.

He only managed one step towards the bathroom, before he felt a hand on his shoulder and it took all his might not to roll his eyes. 

“Alright,” he said, shrugging the hand off. “Let’s get this over with.” He turned around to face the others, but tried to keep his distance, making a few small steps backwards towards the bathroom door.

“You really think you’re okay, Noct?”

Noctis could only weakly laugh at this. Raking both hands through his wet hear, he shook his head. “No, Prompto, I don’t think I’m okay. I, uh...I don’t remember anything from last night, first of all. Last thing I knew was me lying in my bed.”

No interruptions, they seemed to want him to tell everything. “Next thing I know is waking up in a random back alley. I’m covered in blood and next to me are three corpses.” It came out almost casual as he said that and he wanted to laugh at how the faces of his three companions all turned into the same shocked expression.

With a halfhearted shrug he began to turn towards the bathroom door, still watching the others warily, expecting them to stop him with more questions.

They remained silent.

“Anyway, that’s all I can remember, Prompto found me and now we’re here. Can I go take a shower now? I’m freezing.”

Not waiting for an answer, the raven turned around and closed the door behind him, leaving the others back in silence. The first one to speak up was Prompto. “Guys, that...that isn’t Noct.”

 

* * *

 

The hot water brought life back to his numb limbs, and the realization about what just happened. ‘Why did I talk to them like that,’ he wondered. ‘As if all this was nothing and I was just annoyed by them grilling me.’

Leaning his head against the cool tiles, he watched the water run down on his body, leaving visible trails of red around his feet. He didn’t even bother to take his clothes off, they were dirty anyway and he just wanted to warm up. For a few more minutes, Noctis stayed like that, lost in his own thoughts and trying to piece together the events of the day, trying to find anything that could have lead to him murdering someone. If that even was the case. Maybe someone played a pretty dark prank on him? Why couldn’t he remember leaving the hotel, then?

Coming up with nothing at all, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, reaching for a towel. The whole bathroom was foggy from his steaming hot shower. Wiping over the mirror with his hand, the prince suddenly froze. Staring back at him from the glass surface wasn’t him. Well - it basically was, it was his face, his hair. But he looked different. Demonic yellow eyes seemed to stare right through him and dark veins spread all over his face. 

Motionless, he stared at the image for what felt like hours, before he jumped back with a startled gasp. A menacing smile had appeared on the mirror images’ face. He wasn’t smiling, he would have felt that!

Slowly, carefully he stepped back in front of the mirror.

“Nothing.”

He looked normal. No veins, no yellow eyes. Just him.

The raven didn’t even fully realize that he had turned away and walked towards the door until the cool air from the other room hit his face.

“Guys?” His voice was more shaky than he had anticipated. “Something...something’s really wrong.”

 

* * *

 

“Is this actually a thing the astrals could do?” Prompto asked. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed and fiddling with his camera to keep his hands occupied. After Noctis told them what had happened in the bathroom, he felt too creeped out to hold still.

“How should I know,” Noctis sighed. “And what for, anyway? That’s not really helping me getting forward or anything.”

“The timing is most inconvenient.” Ignis was leaning against a wall, eyes fixed on the can of Ebony in his hand. “Lady Lunafreya will awaken Leviathan in a couple days and Niflheim’s army is closing in. Now this…”

“I get it, specs,” the prince huffed, throwing his advisor a warning glance. “You think I’m not aware of all this? I know full well that there’s so much to be done, so excuse me that I’m adding another thing to the list.”

Prompto’s body stiffened and he looked up from his camera to see Noctis glaring at Ignis. The raven had been pacing through the room while they were talking but now he stood still, fingers slowly curling into fists.

“Noct.”

“ _ What. _ ”

The blond somehow managed not to flinch when his friend turned towards him. It was the same as before he went to the bathroom, this wasn’t Noctis anymore. Something was changing, not only in his demeanor, but in his face. He just wondered why the others didn’t notice that.

“How about food? None of us had breakfast and, frankly, I’m starving.”

“Prompto, I don’t think right now is the best time to-”

“Actually,” Gladio chimed in, getting up from his chair from which he had silently observed the situation until now. “I’m pretty hungry too. No use to keep discussing this with an empty stomach. Let’s have a nice belated breakfast before we all get hangry and then we can think what to do next.” He didn’t wait for anyone to answer and exited the room, leaving the door wide open for them to follow.

That seemed to do the trick. Noctis’ shoulders relaxed and some of the old shine returned to his eyes. Prompto chewed on his lip while he watched his friend turn around and follow Gladio, closely observing every movement. He still wasn’t fully back to his normal self but they seemed to have managed to defuse the situation. For now.

Being cut off twice now, Ignis took a deep breath through his nose and pushed himself off the wall to follow the other two when he heard Prompto from behind him.

“Did you see it?”

He turned around to look at the blond. “See what?”

“The shift,” Prompto gestured towards his own face. “His face changed. Like before. It looked like Noct, but also...not.”

Ignis’ gaze wandered to the ground while he replayed the situation. He wasn’t sure if he knew what Prompto meant but the blond seemed to be onto something. “I’m afraid no,” he said eventually. “I have to admit I haven’t paid too much attention to his face but more to his body language.”

Prompto got up from the bed. “Yeah, that too,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and passing Ignis. “But it’s his face that creeps me out the most.”

 

* * *

 

A few hours went by uneventful. They ate and then they decided to run a few errands for Weskham, who had called earlier. Nobody wanted to address the elephant in the room, but everybody thought about it. Only Prompto dared to hope to just leave it at that and that it maybe wouldn’t happen again.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

On their way back to the hotel, they overheard a couple talking about bodies that had been found. Three extremely mangled people. Noctis’ head whipped around and he stared at the backs of the two people. His insides felt like freezing and he heard the blood rushing in his ears. Of course, what had he been thinking,  _ of course _ they would find the bodies. 

_ ‘Those two know too much. Erase them.’ _

“Wh-” Noctis jolted at the sound of the unknown voice and looked around. “Who...did you guys say anything?”

The others had stopped when he did and looked just as confused, which only made the feeling of dread rising inside him worse. He forced out a laugh which sounded more like a stressful sob. “That’s not funny, you know?” His voice was louder than he had anticipated and he saw people turning around to look at him.

“We don’t know what you mean, Noct,” Gladio tried to talk calmly to him and reached out to push him into walking again, but the prince whacked his hand away.

“So what is it then? Am I hearing voices now? I’m going crazy, is that what you want to say?”

“Noct, please-”

“What? Am I making a scene? Am I annoying? Not the good boy who’ll just do as he’s told?”

“Gladio,” Prompto whispered, not daring to look away from the raven’s face which has turned into an ugly snarl. “Watch out, that’s not Noct.”

Getting the hint, the shield proceeded to grab the raven’s arm and pulled him past the small crowd that had formed, ignoring his protests. After spitting out a few curses, Noctis more or less went along with it but he seemed restless and still agitated, until he turned his head and jumped against Gladio with a surprised yelp.

“What now,” the larger man growled, pulling Noctis back on his feet, “You trying to...what the hell?” The raven’s outstretched hand pointed towards a shop window, the reflection showing exactly what he had described before. Dark veins spread over his cheeks, reaching yellow eyes. Everything except his panicked expression just screamed ‘daemon’ at them.

“M-make it stop!” Noctis yelled, covering his face with both arms to flee from the haunting image. “Please, this...this can’t be!”

Gladio grabbed him just in time when he stumbled backwards and came dangerously close to a canal. Exchanging a short glance with the others, he began pushing Noctis in the direction of the Leville as fast as he could. Prompto and Ignis made an effort of always walking between them and other shop windows and they got to the hotel without any more incidents. The prince had calmed down enough to not be guided anymore by then, but he still mostly kept his eyes cast to the ground.

This was the second time this happened and it continued to freak him out. He was changing, he felt it, something was severely wrong. But he couldn’t pinpoint it. He didn’t have any more blackouts yet and could remember everything that happened. Those mood swings still weren’t normal. When they happened he couldn’t fight them, though; he became so angry and frustrated with everything his friends said. And then there was this eerie voice that seemed to have come directly from inside his head because he was the only one who heard it.

Back in their room, he buried his face into a pillow and only lifted it again when all curtains had been closed.

“What do we do now?” Prompto asked, sitting down next to his friend who barely acknowledged him.

Gladio pulled out his phone and scrolled through it. “Might have an idea,” he mumbled, lifting the device to his ear. “Give me a minute.” He left the room, leaving Ignis and Prompto alone to their thoughts.

“I killed people.”

Noctis’ low voice made them both look over to him and Prompto was fast to object: “Dude, that wasn’t you. Whatever that was, it took control over you, you would never kill innocent people.”

“I was still my body,” Noctis growled and rubbed a hand over his face again. It was as if he could feel the black ooze pulsing through his veins, the image still clear in his memory. “What if...what if I turn into a daemon?”

“I don’t think that’s possible...right, Iggy?”

Ignis wanted to say something more positive, but he was only able to shrug. He wasn’t sure if that thought really was so ridiculous. What when something like this was actually possible? Before he could say anything, Gladio reentered the room with a determined look on his face.

“Any good news, Gladio?”

“Well, maybe,” the shield said, “I talked to Wes. Described to him what happened. He doesn’t know anything about it but said our best bet would be Lady Lunafreya.”

Noctis scoffed. “You know they won’t let us to her.”

“Well, this  _ is _ an emergency,” Ignis said, throwing Gladio a knowing look. “We could explain it to the First Secretary, tell her that we only need to have a short talk with the oracle. She should understand the importance of it.”

“And tell her that I sleep-murdered three of her people?”

“That’s an information we better leave out for now and tell her later on if everything goes well, as risky as this sounds.”

“This will never work,” Noctis shook his head hopelessly. “Just not possible, they won’t let us in and even if, what if Luna can’t do anything either?”

“We’ll see about that,” Gladio said with a sigh. “I think this plan is crazy too, but it’s a chance so why not grab it.”

“I’m in too,” the blond said with a nod.

Defeated, Noctis lowered his head into the pillow again and stayed like that for the remainder of the evening, halfheartedly listening to the others discussing what to tell Camelia to make her understand the urgency of their request. 

Their conversation went on well into the night and at some point, Prompto noticed movement behind him. He was still sitting next to Noct who had lied down after a while and now saw him slowly get up.

“Hey buddy, you okay?” he asked, catching the attention of Ignis and Gladio as well.

The neat silent ‘yeah’ was almost missed by them, and Prompto felt alarm rise inside him when the prince didn’t even look up. Was he sleepwalking? When he made his way straight to the door, Gladio got up.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Sorry but no way, you’ll stay here.” With that, Gladio grabbed Noctis’ shoulder to push him away from the door but the prince turned around and slapped his hand away in smooth movement and grabbed him by the throat.

“Leave me the _ fuck _ alone,” he hissed, sparks of magic electrifying the air around him. Ignis and Prompto jumped up, but Gladio already reacted by driving his fist into Noctis’ abdomen. The raven toppled over with a gurgled noise and Gladio caught him just in time.

“You know what?” he said, swallowing a few times to get rid of the lingering feeling of fingers pressing into his throat. “I don’t care that it’s the middle of the night, we’re going now, before this is getting out of hand anymore.”

Nobody objected.

 

* * *

 

They felt like criminals, sneaking along the dark streets of Altissia. Gladio carried the only half-conscious prince on his back and they all agreed that it was better this way. Aside from the occasional groan, Noctis hadn’t put up much of a fight for a while, but Gladio knew this would change soon, when he felt him move and raise his head.

“Welcome back, buddy, you good?” the shield said just loud enough for Noct and the other two to hear.

Still a bit groggy, Noctis looked around. “Wha...where are we? What are you doing?”

“We’re gonna pay Luna a visit.”

“Don’t be stupid, they’ll never let us in. Let-let me down.”

Gladio complied and slowed to a halt to let his ward down, but still eyed him wearily. “Stupid or not, we’re gonna try. You need help and she is our best bet. We’ll see how we get to her when we’re there.”

“How about Umbra?” Prompto piped up and pointed down the street. The rhythmic clacking of claws on stone could be heard and the white and grey dog came trotting towards them with a friendly wagging tail.

Nobody knew what to say, so the gunner took the initiative by taking the little book Umbra was always carrying with him and looked for an empty page. Finding one, he pulled out a very used-looking pen and began hastily scribbling a short text.

“I’m sorry to desecrate your uh…’love book’ here but this dog always knows how to get to us or Luna, so I guess it’s worth a try?”

Noctis snorted, but he was honestly impressed. This whole task still felt so hopeless but  Umbra definitely was a huge plus. “Prom, this...might actually work.”

Those were the most hopeful words Noct had said all day. The blond chuckled lightly and put the book back in its place. “Go, boy. Find Luna, fast, we really need her help, okay?”

Without skipping a beat, the dog turned and ran down to where he came from, vanishing in the shadows in mere seconds. They listened to the noise of his paws until everything fell silent again.

“Let’s go. There’s no time to waste and we’re almost there,” Ignis said, waving them to hurry along. “How are you feeling, Noct?”

“Don’t ask…” the prince sighed. “My stomach hurts and I feel like any time I look up and see a window I’m about to see this…’thing’ again.”

“Sorry about that,” Gladio said. “But you tried to strangle me, so no offense.”

“None taken.”

The group turned another corner and all of them froze mid-step. There, coming towards him were four guards and an older man. The sight of the man made Noctis’ stomach drop and he instinctively made a few steps backwards, but it was too late. The man pointed directly at the raven, eyes wide in fear.

“There! That’s him!” he called out and instantly, the guards pushed past him and walked towards the prince, who wasn’t able to tear his eyes away from the still visible smudge of red on the man’s jacket. He felt sick.

“Noct?” Ignis threw him a confused glance.

“I...I bumped into someone,” the prince stammered. “After I woke up and tried to find my way back...I bumped into him, I-I completely forgot.”

“Sir, I must ask you to come with us,” one of the guards said, one hand resting readily on his weapon.

Noctis stumbled a few more steps backwards, almost falling in the process, and Ignis put himself in between him and the guard. “Please, let me explain-”

“I saw this kid and his friends sneaking out the Leville,” the old man interrupted frantically gesturing towards Noctis who looked more panicked every passing second. “I found the corpses, you know, it was him who came out of that alley! I’m an eyewitness and I swear on the astrals, this one there is the killer.”

“Noct is no killer,” Prompto said, now standing next to Ignis to shield his friend as good as he could, “If you’d just let us explain.”

“There is nothing to explain, I know what I saw!”

The man’s voice grew louder until he began barking orders toward the guards who were still arguing with Ignis. All the voices jumbled together became white noise in Noctis’ head and he felt like throwing up. It was over, done. They’d lock him away and trial him for murder; all would be in vain. The edges of his vision began to blacken, draining the world of its color, swallowing him.

“Cease this instantly, I beg you.”

This voice. It sounded like pure light.

Noct’s hand twitched. He knew that voice.

Everyone fell silent by the sound of it and upon seeing its owner walk up to them, Prompto blew out a relieved breath.

Umbra walking right by her side, Luna stepped into the cone of light the street lantern threw on them, followed by a handful of guards and a very tired looking Camilla Claustra. The First Secretary waved a hand and the first group of guards took a few steps away, still weary but not arguing with the order. The man was silenced with a mere look by the politician, when he tried to say something.

“I don’t fully understand what is going on,” she said in all the calmness she could muster after being jarred awake by Umbra’s frantic barking. “But from what I could take from the information given to me, there are lives at stake, as well as the future of Accordo. So I’ll overlook what is happening here for now. But know that this will have consequences later on.”

Luna answered with a polite bow, then walked towards Noctis, who was just standing there, body shaking as if he was struggling to even stand. She stopped next to Prompto for a moment to give him a smile. “I thank you for your message, Prompto. I think I know what he is dealing with, and how to free him from it.”

Unable to say anything coherent, the blond nodded, a pink hue appearing on his cheeks. 

The closer she got to Noctis, the thicker the energy felt around him. It felt unwelcome, as if something was trying to push her away. But she kept stepping forward, eventually reaching out to him. When her hand touched his cheek, everything around them turned grey and out of focus. Everything, except the two of them, and something behind her fiance. A deep black presence was looming behind him, so close it almost swallowed him. And even though there were no eyes, Luna knew it was staring at her menacingly.

“I know who you are,” she said, not backing up. “I need you to leave him alone. I won’t let you have him.”

A growl, sounding like it was all-encompassing. The entity seemed to lean forward even more, threatening her and encasing more of the prince’s body at the same time. The oracle still didn’t budge.

“He may be in a weakened state now, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Another growl.

Luna took a deep preparing breath, closing her eyes for a short moment before lifting her arm to point her palm at the dark shadow. A bright light emitted from it and with a loud, inhuman groan, the form began to writhe and twitch as it was pushed away from Noct’s form and seemed to shrink.

“Begone, begone forever and don’t return,” Luna whispered, holding her position until nothing was left of the darkness. As soon as she let her hand fall to her side, the world around them came back to life and both of them dropped to the ground. Instantly, she felt a hand on her arm and let Ignis help her up while Gladio knelt down next to Noctis.

“He will be alright,” she said between labored breaths. The dizziness from the ordeal only slowly subsided and she was thankful that Ignis watched over for her not falling again.

“What was wrong with him?” the advisor asked.

Swiping a few stray strands out of her face, Luna straightened herself up. “Something I saw in a vision. A bad omen,” she explained. “It is what he would become would he get lost in the darkness. Strong grief and fear can do that, take control over you and turn you into something evil. I saw it happen before.”

“Will he...really be okay?” Prompto asked reluctantly. He was next to his friend as well, helping Gladio to lift him up.

Luna nodded. “He has wonderful friends who watch over him, right? There won’t be any incidents anymore, he will need rest for now but he’ll get better soon. You should go back now.”

Ignis switched places with one of the guards and thanked her with a deep bow, then he looked over to the First Secretary.

“The freedom of Accordo and safety of my people is more important now,” she said before Ignis could even open his mouth. And with a sideways glance to the now very confused-looking man she added, “We will talk about the consequences when this is over.”

“We are grateful for that."

With a curt nod, she turned around and followed by the guards, they startedback towards the estate. Luna walked proudly but at a much slower pace now, after this straining action. One last time she looked over her shoulder at the unconscious future king.

‘Be strong, Noctis. We will see each other very soon.'


End file.
